1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a semiconductor wafer or substrate vapor dryer, and more particularly, pertains to an isopropyl alcohol (IPA) vapor dryer with well defined and stable vapor and cooling zones.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art IPA dryers have not advanced with other advances in state of the art front-end semiconductor fabrication processes. Prior art IPA vapor dryers have not always been utilized in automatic wet stations and could not be loaded from the top with a robot, such as a 2-axis robot. The feed methods and drain methods for the IPA were not state of the art. The prior art quartz tank was well fabricated and used stainless steel saucer trays providing further contamination, and the quartz tanks were not well coupled to the heater blocks. The prior art IPA vapor dryers minimized the number of heater rods providing an undistributed heating. Finally, the prior art IPA vapor dryers added particles.
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by providing an isopropyl alcohol vapor dryer system which is state of the art in front-end semiconductor processing and minimizes, and preferably negates, the addition of any particles.